Awesome Celebrity Birthday Of The Day: Carl Weathers
Posted at 12:00 PM Jan 14, 2009
By Kenny HerzogWelcome to one of NCDSUV's favorite daily features, where we acknowledge another turn of the calendar for a member of Hollywood land, even if it's a celebrity who often goes overlooked by the rest of the blogosphere, and regardless of whether we have a huge affinity for their body of work.
Yesterday we belatedly opened our nipple-splashed Christmas cards for well-aged Seinfeld funny-gal Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and today we salute a man who made Rocky cry... Pussy.
Carl Weathers
Age: 61
Why He's Sort Of Awesome: For one, he managed to squeeze past one of the most impressive crop of birthday co-conspirators yet, including a guy who drummed for the last quarter-century's most important rock band and one of his Arrested Development co-stars. But why, you ask? Because Weathers has established the holy trinity of Hollywood awesomeness. First, he got second billing in a legitimate mega-franchise, portraying the villain-cum-homoerotic best friend to Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (most notably spurring Balboa out of retirement after implausibly getting beat to death in the ring by fellow Awesome Celebrity Birthday honoree Dolph Lundgren in IV); achieving cult, late-night HBO status as the titular protagonist (and Vanity-shagging hunk) in Action Jackson, and then emerging from an extended abyss with a self-deprecating, eponymous, post-cult guest-appearance on a string of unforgettable Development episodes, as Tobias' fast-good-craving acting coach,
Most Likely Celebrity Status 20 Birthdays From Now: Ironically, presiding over a middling acting school as dean and head instructor. And supplementing the overhead (and tax-evasion legal charges) by attending autograph signings with Craig T. Nelson for Jackson fans.
All Apologies To: Faye Dunaway, Slick Rick, Dave Grohl, T Bone Burnett, Caleb Followill, LL Cool J, Jason Bateman, Zakk Wylde
Age: 61
Why He's Sort Of Awesome: For one, he managed to squeeze past one of the most impressive crop of birthday co-conspirators yet, including a guy who drummed for the last quarter-century's most important rock band and one of his Arrested Development co-stars. But why, you ask? Because Weathers has established the holy trinity of Hollywood awesomeness. First, he got second billing in a legitimate mega-franchise, portraying the villain-cum-homoerotic best friend to Sylvester Stallone in Rocky (most notably spurring Balboa out of retirement after implausibly getting beat to death in the ring by fellow Awesome Celebrity Birthday honoree Dolph Lundgren in IV); achieving cult, late-night HBO status as the titular protagonist (and Vanity-shagging hunk) in Action Jackson, and then emerging from an extended abyss with a self-deprecating, eponymous, post-cult guest-appearance on a string of unforgettable Development episodes, as Tobias' fast-good-craving acting coach,
Most Likely Celebrity Status 20 Birthdays From Now: Ironically, presiding over a middling acting school as dean and head instructor. And supplementing the overhead (and tax-evasion legal charges) by attending autograph signings with Craig T. Nelson for Jackson fans.
All Apologies To: Faye Dunaway, Slick Rick, Dave Grohl, T Bone Burnett, Caleb Followill, LL Cool J, Jason Bateman, Zakk Wylde
Click here for the Awesome Celebrity Birthday archive.
